Earlier this week, Ambassador James Jeffrey, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, briefed the press on U.S. policy toward Iran. Below are his remarks in full as delivered at the Foreign Press Center in Washington.
MR. BAILY: Thank you all for coming this morning. As you know, we'll be on the record with Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, who is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, and he will be discussing today the U.S. policy towards Iran. I think Jim will open with a couple of general comments and then be happy to take your questions. Jim, thank you.
MR. JEFFREY: Thank you, Jess. Iran is a very, very significant problem for the United States and for the international community and for the people of the region, and for that matter, at least in terms of the Iranian regime and for its own people. At the top of our agenda with Iran is, of course, the nuclear portfolio, but that's not the only issue. There are the others that you're all well aware of, the terrorism account, the unsavory efforts throughout the region with Hamas, with Hezbollah, with Syria, in Lebanon through Hezbollah, in Iraq, and a general policy of intimidating Gulf countries, Iran's rejection of Israel and the peace process, Iran's own human rights violations, and it's own campaign against pluralism in Iran, which unfortunately is growing under Ahmadi-Nejad.
While these are the problems longstanding, there is a particular problem with the current government under President Ahmadi-Nejad that requires very close attention by all of us. The U.S. is not seeking regime change, what we're seeking is a change in behavior across the board and the path to seeking this change is multilateral action primarily in the U.N. with the -- what we call the P-5+1, one being Germany, but also through international efforts such as that at the U.N. that produced 1701 for Lebanon and multilateral actions -- interactions with the countries of the region on the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and in several other fields. We have a variety of bilateral sanctions that we're trying to gain more international support for to deter Iran for -- and pursuing the path of nuclear weapons. And we also have a variety of steps that we're taking with our friends and allies in the region to strengthen their defense against a growing Iranian military threat.
So it's a very broad agenda. It's a very troubling one coming at a time of considerable turmoil in the Middle East. Despite the challenges of the other competing priorities, we think that Iran is at the top of the list. Thank you.
MR. BAILY: If you would state your name and organization, and please speak into the mikes. I know it's a little clunky, but that way we'll get it on the transcript.
Q Hi. My name is Parichehr Farzam from Radio Farda.
MR. BAILY: Go ahead, ma'am.
Q Mr. Jeffrey, it seems that Britain has started the process of rapprochement with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia over the issue in Iraq. To what extent is U.S. ready to go to meet with Iranians over this issue?
MR. JEFFREY: You said Britain?
Q Britain, Saudi Arabia. It seems that they start to do --
MR. JEFFREY: Yeah, I mean, I can't comment on what the British may or may not propose in the future. I think that as the White House Chief of Staff Mr. Bolton said yesterday, we are open to new ideas in the Middle East. With particular reference to Iraq where Iran plays a very significant role, I have to say that we have several times attempted to meet with the Iranians on Iraq. And for various reasons, often problems with the Iranian perception of this, they did not take place. We have offered to sit down with the Iranians to talk about the nuclear issue conditioned by a suspension of enrichment. They have not responded to that offer although Mr. Solana spent months trying to further it.
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